UK Under 20 and U18 Outdoor Results

[Occasional Hope]

I must say, although it didn't pay off for her, I was impressed by Innes Fitzgerald's confidence and determination on going for it at the Euro Cross Country at the weekend, against girls three years older than herself.

[RunUnlimited]

Finally! I'd mentioned the lad a few times on this thread earlier in the year, and folks had said that Bennett was returning from pretty much 2-3 years of constant injury troubles. So it is heartening to see this result, his first recorded run since Aug 2020.

Let's hope that this is a sign that he'll be back in action for the long term.

[CAML]

Former hurdle prodigy Sam Bennett who has been waylaid by injury, ran a 60m pb of 6.94 recently.

[RunUnlimited]

Probably the last bit of news regarding U20 athletes for this year, but it's about a venue change for next year's European U20 Championships. They were set to be held in the Romanian town of Cluj-Napoca next July, however, as part of the announcements by the European Athletics Council which included the awarding of the 2026 European Athletics Championships to Birmingham and the Alexander Stadium, Jerusalem will now be the host city for the Euro U20s. Additionally, the dates of these championships have changed from 6-9 July, to the 7-10 August.

The reasoning for the location change have yet to be given.

[RunUnlimited]

@Runner88
Yeah, just watching a replay of the race right now and Akinbileje did indeed have a stumble after about her 2nd stride out of the blocks, but from that point on, she straight dominated the field and ran super well.

[Runner88]

And that was with what looked like an odd start. Seemed to stumble a bit out of the blocks. More to come there for sure

[RunUnlimited]

According to Ian Hodges on Twitter, at the European "DNA" under 20 athletics meeting in Castellon, Spain yesterday, EU18 200m champion Faith Akinbileje won the 100m race in a new PB of 11.53 (+2.0m/s), bringing her very successful season to an end. That means that the John Blackie coached athlete has now run faster (just) over that distance at 16 years old than another of Blackie's training group did at the same age - Dina Asher Smith!

[carterhatch]

These days I try not to get too over excited about any young athlete and I must confess that 'para' events tend to pass me by... but the last time this young lad was mentioned on the forum I did some background reading on him ... it's not the first time he has broken the world best for F38.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/teen-cerebral-palsy-breaks-discus-155300650.html

and as mentioned he is still only 17, but 6'9",Ii suspect if he remains in the sport, we are going to hear a great deal more about this talented young lad and as this article notes, he is planning to compete in 'able-bodied' as well as paralympic meets.

https://www.wales247.co.uk/welsh-teenager-smashes-discus-world-record-again

[MysteryBrick]

He's ranked 7th on the UK U20 list this year in the 1.75kg with 47.85m, and 61.19m with a 1.5kg suggests he could get well over 50m with the 1.75kg next year. Very impressive.

[CAML]

17 year old 6'9" Michael Jenkins has smashed his own F38 Celebral Palsy world record, throwing the 1.5kg discus 61.19 metres. Now that is bloody good!

[Occasional Hope]

Another fine improvement. Hope they can both build on this next year and beyond.

Euro u18 champion Cleo A had her second best throw ever too.

[RunUnlimited]

Ian Hodge reports an enormous pb for Zara Obamkinwa: 55.13, an improvement from 51.99 at Cali. No.2 all time on the UK u20 rankings.

In the U17 men's discus, current UK leader Timi Babatunde, added almost a metre to his PB with a 56.43m effort on Sunday in Moulton. A week after winning the English U15/U17 title with his previous PB (55.70m), Babatunde's new figures would have placed the 16 year old inside the top 8 in the European U18s earlier this summer.

This throw moves him up from 16th on the UK U17 all time list, into 10th place.

[RunUnlimited]

Fantastic result for Zara. She had already achieved a great deal this year - setting a couple of PBs, including that 51.99m during the qualifying rounds in Cali, and reaching a World U20 discus final. She'll likely be disappointed that she couldn't follow up that 51.99m with a similar effort in the final itself, in fact putting in one of her worst throws of the year of 47.23m for 11th place, but I'm sure she learned a *lot* from that whole experience.

This new personal best, had it happened in that Cali world final, would have won Zara the silver medal! If she can reproduce this form at next year's European U20s in Cluj-Napoca, she'll be a definite medal contender.

[Occasional Hope]

Ian Hodge reports an enormous pb for Zara Obamkinwa: 55.13, an improvement from 51.99 at Cali. No.2 all time on the UK u20 rankings.

[RunUnlimited]

LoveSprints1 Ok, that explains his lack of running the last couple of years. I knew he'd picked up a big injury in 2019 that ended that season, after he'd run a windy (+3.8m/s), but very promising 13.58. (In 2018, as well as winning gold in the European U18s in an U18 British record of 13.15, he also ran a wind legal 13.63 PB over the U20 hurdles as a 17 year old, very close to the qualifying standard for the World U20's in Tampere). Had that injury not happened, he was sure to be a contender for making the World U20 final at the very least. And I should have guessed that his absence from the entire 2021 *and* 2022 seasons would have been for similar, injury related, reasons.

Well, it's great to hear that Bennett is still training, because he is a very talented young man. He's still only 21, and has time to make an impact. Hopefully, Sam will be fit enough for the European U23s in Espoo next year.